Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-03-24

There are 10000 women farmers in
Ireland.
If il be unwOmanly for a woman to
vote, or to hold office, ii is unwomanly
for Victoria to he Queen Of England
Geo. I'm. Curtis.
Fencing clubs for women are ponu.
lar in New York during Lent Girls
enjoy the exercise. The sport cnmpels
them to put away c0rsets and French
heels.
a half-century ago in Turkey it was
considered a shame for n woman to
read. To-day two schools in C0nstan-
tinOple have been established by the
Sultan himself.
The WaIdensians. at the General
! Conference at Florence, Italy, have de-
creed that hereafter women members
shall be allowed to vote, but not to
speak at church meetings.
Mr.. Norman w. Dodge, of New York,
has instituted prize of $500, to be
awarded at each annual exhibition of
| the Academy to the best picture
painted in the United States by wo-
man.
The woman suffrage constitutional
amendment, which passed the Rhode
Island Senate % to s, has now passed
the House. 50 to 5, and will be submit
ted to the voters early in April,
The paper of Miss Mary F.. Byrd, as
sistant in the mathematical depart
ment of Carelton College, on popular
Fallacies about ObservatOries," de-
livered at the laying of the cornerstone
of the new observatory last fall, is be-
ing extensively copied by scientific
papers in England and on the CONT
nent.
No man can take out license to
marry the minor daughter of another
without his consent. But the law
virtually gives every man a license to
seduce the minor daughter of his neigh
Dor, and the child's own consent dis
charges him of all penalty. 1t is no
wonder that the various women's asso-
Citations are asking to have the law
changed. If mothers were voters,
such law could never have been
passed.
| Woman has won by her work and
ldllll NHiJ CCblA1C W IllCll "tbnOJU UHCiI
winning-a right to the ballot. Is
there anything that can suffer by such
a concession? Would the press break
down while it printed the ballots that
a woman's hand might cast? Would
the ballot when dropped into the box
explode like a charge of dynamite?
Some things-such as the nomination
of Incorporate and incompetent men
would be exploded as though mine of
nitro-glycerine had been ignited.--
Bishop Hurst.
woMANLY INFLUENCE.
It is often said that women would
;'lose their influence" if they were al
lowed to vote. But what is it that gives
influence? Beauty, goodness, tact, tai
ent, pleasing manners, social position-a
hundred things, not one of which would
be destroyed by the right vote. Then,
in addition, the right to vote itself car
ries influence even when the voter has
neither character nor brains. The tastes
and prejudices of the most ignorant
men are considered and deferred to by
political managers, for the sake of their
votes, while the wishes of the most in
telligent women often pass unregarded,
because they are not voters.
It is said IA woman can exert more
influence by talking with her husband
and friends and teaching her children
than she can by voting" as if it would
be impossible for her to do both. After
suffrange is granted, women will still be
able to talk with their friends and to
teach their children; every avenue ofin-
fluence they now have will still be open
to them, and another very impOr-
tant one in addition. Nor is it likely
that the opinions of women on public
questions would be regarded with less
respect by men than they are now,
merely because the law had raised wo-
children, lunatics and other persons
whose political opinions are considered
not worth counting.
There is really no sense in what is of
ten said about indirect influence being
=. greater than direct influence, as if the
two were incompatible. Every go6d
man exerts both. He has an indirect
power for good by his character and
, personal influence, and o direct power
for good by his vote. The latter never
lnterferes with the former. There is al
old story about a prisoner who had
D been shut up for years in dungeon, re
ceiving light only through chink il
the wall. His mind became weakened
4 by long captivity, and when his friends
= proposed to tear down the wall and LEI
him out, he protested. He said that i
I the wall We're destroyed, the chinl
through which all his light came woulC
$ be destroyed, too, and he would be lef
in total darkness. The fear that wo
men would close their influence" the,
0 had votes, is just as irrational. All tn
0 means of influence they have now they
o would have still, and one more besides
o What amount of influence and respec
n women now possess, they possess il
: spite of their political disabilities, no
:. because of them.
o ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.